Women’s Tree Project Takes Root in Central Afghanistan

BySusannah Nicol — 4 August 2009

The women of Dara Azhdar have plenty to smile about after planting 2,500 saplings in their sun-scorched community.

Copyright WFP/Susannah Nicol

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Poised on the edge of Bamyan town’s imposing rock formation, Dara Azhdar is no ordinary Afghan community. Not only is its only Shura, or local council, a women’s Shura, but these women have launched a tree planting project, aimed to improve their community and the environment, with help from the World Food Programme.

BAMYAN – Every summer, the sun beats down and the dust kicks up in Dara Azhdar, home to around 450 families. The community of returnees and internally displaced people first arrived in this harsh environment four years ago.

And since the men didn’t establish a Shura, very little was done to improve matters -- until the women took action.

“For the sake of our health, the environment, providing shade and as measures against soil erosion, we needed to plant trees,” says Zainab Rezayee, who heads the women’s Shura.

Food for trees

When Rezayee heard that WFP was involved in tree planting programmes, she called for a Shura meeting. The women decided that rather than wait for the men to act, they would do the work needed to make Dara Azhdar more habitable.